My first build ever. A copy of Wayside's design.

DJRichard · Jul 28, 2012

Hi everyone. I started posting up in Waysides thread, but on advice, Ive decided to start my own thread. So I will copy and paste a few bits to save time.

JULY 26th 2012

Ive just registered today when I stumbled across this site while searching for plans to make a wooden DIY rig. I found this (https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=126365) and it look beautifully simple and I can probably make something like it. Perhaps not as perfectly well made, but as Ive no experience at all with woodwork other than a few lessons at school 20 years ago!

Ive got a fair bit of space and Id love to build this. I rent a house from a builder who has emigrated to Australia. The garage has some power tools, circular saw, jigsaw and the like. So Im sure if Im careful, I can avoid losing limbs!

In the garage there is a few bits of spare wood left over from when he built this house. Im allowed to use it for whatever I want, so it will keep the costs right down.

The wood is not your typical 2 x 4. its more 6 x 2 from my rough measurements. This should be OK still I think. I will probably not do exactly as this design, but about 90% of it.

Ive installed the sketch program and worked out how to get the measurements. Ive tried over and over with the protractor tool, but still cant figure out how to measure the angle of the main uprights that the wheel deck is attached to. Can anyone tell me the angle I should use on both ends of the wood.

Ive a few days off work this week, so Im going to try and start this tomorrow.

Im quite excited, Ive never EVER done anything at all like this and had been looking at buying one for over a year now, but now I have a great opportunity to do this. I will also be very proud of showing it off shouting "I made that!".

JULY 27 2012

Well Ive been out in the garage today and I popped back and forth to my pc to learn how to attach the saw blades, use the tools safely etc. Its amazing what you can learn from few YouTube instructional videos.

Ive got a long way to go obviously, but its starting to take shape. I had a few problems trying to get the uprights (angled pieces) attached to the main base, so I found some metal strips and cut them into bits with a hacksaw and used them to secure everything. Its certainly not as tidy, especially on the outside, but it really was required as I didnt have long enough screws. Ive not bought any single part of this vuild, everything was in the garage, so apart from having to buy a seat, it should work out very cheap indeed.

Im knackered now actually, but looking forward to continuing tomorrow. Here are a few photos so far.

Here are the plans I printed out after adding the dimensions to them

Here are some of the power tools laying in the garage

and some more tools which I dragged down from the second floor

A big moment for me, the fear of messing this up!

I tried different ways to countersink, second way worked best.

Here are the main base sections cut and the angled uprights

After struggling to attach the angled uprights to the base securly, I cut this metal bar into pieces

Although it is quite ugly, its made it rock solid

I cut this plywood up to use as the deck for the wheel, but it was flimsy and flexed under pressure, so I changed it.

Finished for today, the base and uprights are secure and rock solid. I also did a little bit of sanding of the wheel deck to round of the squared edges.

Looking forward to getting the rest done tomorrow.

DJRichard · Jul 28, 2012

I continued doing some more work today. It actually took me nearly all day as I was searching around for some more screws and had to figure out howe to remove a few screws that I wrecked the heads on. It all took forever, and I had to keep coming in to go back online to get some tips on how to remove the screw. I didnt manage it using any skillfull technique, so brute force done the trick in the end.

As Im not buying any of these parts, Im having to sort of bodge a bit to keep as close to the original design as possible. Ive not even got myself a seat yet, so I cant do that section until I have it as the positioning of the pedals in relation to it are crucial for a comfortable position.

I realised today that the deck for my feet was actually much lower than the way I had it setup last night, so I had to cut that piece down, which was quite tricky to keep straight! I also had to do a lot of sanding today on the wood I used for the gear section, the wood was quite rough. I also had to cut up tiny bit of wood to go between the gear frame as I didnt have wood thin enough.

I did a section for the pedals to attach to and its drying at the moment after its second coat of blackboard paint. I forgot to get a photo of it though.

I also inverted my G27 pedals today too.

Im absolutely knackered now, cant believe how tiring all this is. Loving it though and Im so proud every time I look over at it.

before and after sanding with some rough sandpaper. I dont have any finer stuff, so it will have to do.

Here we are at the end of day two. All pieces are secured in place and ready for more work tomorrow.

HaLfPiPe4 · Jul 29, 2012

It's looking great so far man, can't wait to see the next update

MSTER232 · Jul 29, 2012

Great looking rig so far, good luck with the rest of the project

.

DJRichard · Jul 30, 2012

I really hurt my wrist yesterday with all the sanding. Didnt actually bang it or anything, but it was so painful I had to stop playing Battlefield 3 last night. It meant I couldnt do any manual work on it today. I did however spend hours on the internet trying to find a used seat from a car to buy. Im living in Ireland at the moment, so there isnt a huge choice as its such a small country. Im just waiting to hear back from a few adverts I replied to. I cant do the base section until I get the seat and I dont want to attach the pedals as I need to get the positioning right. Im so impatient!

MSTER232 · Jul 30, 2012

DJRichard
I really hurt my wrist yesterday with all the sanding. Didnt actually bang it or anything, but it was so painful I had to stop playing Battlefield 3 last night. It meant I couldnt do any manual work on it today. I did however spend hours on the internet trying to find a used seat from a car to buy. Im living in Ireland at the moment, so there isnt a huge choice as its such a small country. Im just waiting to hear back from a few adverts I replied to. I cant do the base section until I get the seat and I dont want to attach the pedals as I need to get the positioning right. Im so impatient!

What's it like in Ireland over there? I know it's small but I've always felt like going there for some reason.

PAPPACLART · Jul 30, 2012

Great work thus far, will be great to see the finished product.

DJRichard · Jul 30, 2012

MSTER232
What's it like in Ireland over there? I know it's small but I've always felt like going there for some reason.

You can probably see from my countries flag that Im from Scotland. On the TV show "Coast" they described Norway as being like "Scotland on steroids". On that basis Id say Scotland is like Ireland on steroids. Its very similar, just not quite as mountainous.

Dublin city is pretty awesome, so diverse and full of life. The Irish people are generally very very nice, they certainly love my accent which is a nice bonus. The cost of living is a good bit more expensive than living in Scotland. I live in the countryside now though, so I got a big 5 bedroom house with massive garden for the exact same price that I paid for a tiny 1 bedroomed apartment in the city. Fair enough I did live in a really nice area in the city, but it was still a REALLY small apartment.

The main problem the country is facing is due to the recession, an awful lot of businesses are closing or struggling to simply stay open. They spent wildly a few years ago and bought houses which are typically worth less than half of what they paid for them only 5 years ago.

Aside from all that, its a great place to come for a holiday, so long as youre OK with taking the risk on the weather which is just the same as the UK, 4 seasons in each day! Dublin is a really popular place for stag parties and weekends away.

left888 · Jul 30, 2012

DJ, good start to your rig so far, building a rig is almost as much fun as racing. We have "Auto Wreckers" here in Canada, I would imagine you have something similar in the UK? I purchased my seat from a local Auto Wrecker, from a Chevy, the seats were all ready removed so I am unsure of the make. If you get lucky you can get a newer sports car seat which offers comfort with style. Good luck with your search.

DJRichard · Jul 30, 2012

My real car is away for a week. Ive had no transport and stuck at home which is about 12km from anywhere. Thats why I suddenly had the idea to build a racing cockpit. It was because I knew I would be bored and it would also save me some money. Had I known before I lost access to my car, Id have went and bought some more screws and a seat from a breakers yard (auto wreckers) etc. This was really the most spur of the moment thing to construct. I was sitting at home, thinking to myself "what am I going to do with myself for the next 7 days?" and then I started Googling "wooden diy racing cockpits" and came across this site. Next day I was dragging tools out and learning how they operated! Its been a rather fun lesson though. Its amazing how inefficient I was at the start of the process, Ive really figured out time saving measures in nearly every aspect of doing this. I was cutting one piece of wood at a time like a fool, then trying hard to get the next one exactly the same, when all I had to do was clamp them together and cut them at the same time resulting in two perfectly matched pieces...so obvious really!

Im quite annoyed now. Im just back in from the garage and I was pacing about trying to think of something to do until I finally get a chair. I was tempted to paint it, but I know I will probably damage the finish as I will require to do a bit more work yet.

You can see Ive been using much wider wood than in Waysides original plans, its all I had in the garage. I noticed that my foot deck is actually a bit higher off the floor than his design as I didnt take the fact my wood was wider into consideration. If I attach the pedals a bit higher to cancel that out, they will obviously be a bit closer to me as they are attached to an angled piece of wood. I can move the seat back to allow for that, but of course that means the wheel will be further away. Id prefer not to have to try and lower the foot deck if possible. Can anyone with any experience on this kind of thing advise if this will wreck the comfort levels?

About a year ago, I purchased a small circuit board and some switches from a guy who was selling up his flight sim cockpit. Its been sitting in a jiffy bag in a cupboard since then, I believe its to replicate a 20 button controller. Im thinking that somehow I can add some switches to this build so that I can have switches for wipers, ignition, pit requests and all that kind of thing. Just for a bit of added realism. Im aware of the concept of a button box, but has anyone any ideas of how I could make this look a bit more integrated into the build, rather than have a box just sitting there.

Here is a photo of it. I know its a mess, but its exactly the way he sent it to me. I dont even know how to wire it up to be honest, there are no instructions! You can see some of the switches are green, ornage and red, they have 3 contact points on the back. Is that so they can light up when switched on? How would I wire it to do that, there only seem to be 2 pin contacts on the circuit board. Im frightened to fry the thing as Ive never ventured into electronics outside wiring a domestic plug!

EDIT: I just checked my emails, its a 2120 pulse generator.......does that help?

DJRichard · Jul 30, 2012

I have another issue that I would like some advice in addressing. I have a U2711 Dell monitor which Im going to have to attach to the rig. If Im honest, I dont really like the way Wayside has attached his, for my taste its too far away from the wheel.

I took my monitor out to the garage and had someone hold it in various positions to give me an idea as to the best place to have it. It seemed best literally just behind the wheel and no further away. It has a great stand on the monitor, so it can raise itself high enough that the wheel doesnt block the screen. The only thing is that wheel deck has quite an angle on it, its not flat. The monitor doesnt tilt down much at all, so Im trying to figure out the best way to attach it.

The obvious choice is to simply add a length of wood behind the wheel deck, in effect making it longer. I need to add about 6.5" for the stands base to fit perfectly on it. This will however alter the aesthetics of the rig from the side profile as it would exntend out in front. Im worried this will ruin the clean lines of the rig. I tried to modify the sketchup image to show you what I meant, but I cant do it.

Should I make this piece of wood curvy and more streamlined, or just keep it straight and functional?

Im starting to see where proper forward planning wouldve came in really handy!

DJRichard · Jul 30, 2012

I'm just in from the garage after giving it a coat of paint. There are still a few things to build, but as I said earlier I cant do anything until I get a seat. Not had a single reply from the people I contacted who were advertising, so I will probably have to wait until Thursday when I get my car back and I can go and find one in a scrap yard. Any idea what tools I should take to remove the seat and rails?

I didnt take any photos of the painted frame because its still very wet and needs another coat. I was p[ainting it outside of the garage as it was quite sunny today, but as the sun was setting loads of small flies appeared and they started landing on the wet paint! MAD DASH INSIDE!

I'd like to thanks everyone for their words of encouragement so far, its great to meet people who understand the joy in making this. Most people Ive mentioned this to in real life have looked at me in disbelief and were clearly thinking "Youre 35 Richard, grow the hell up!".

sesselpupser · Jul 31, 2012

DJRichard
About a year ago, I purchased a small circuit board and some switches from a guy who was selling up his flight sim cockpit. Its been sitting in a jiffy bag in a cupboard since then, I believe its to replicate a 20 button controller. Im thinking that somehow I can add some switches to this build so that I can have switches for wipers, ignition, pit requests and all that kind of thing. Just for a bit of added realism. Im aware of the concept of a button box, but has anyone any ideas of how I could make this look a bit more integrated into the build, rather than have a box just sitting there.

Here is a photo of it. I know its a mess, but its exactly the way he sent it to me. I dont even know how to wire it up to be honest, there are no instructions! You can see some of the switches are green, ornage and red, they have 3 contact points on the back. Is that so they can light up when switched on? How would I wire it to do that, there only seem to be 2 pin contacts on the circuit board. Im frightened to fry the thing as Ive never ventured into electronics outside wiring a domestic plug!

EDIT: I just checked my emails, its a 2120 pulse generator.......does that help?

Extremely long post short, yes you can use that board to add buttons to control your sims and/or games without a keyboard. I'm making a button panel for my cockpit which will basically be the same as a button box only instead of being in a box, it'll all be mounted on one sheet of acrylic which attaches to the part of my cockpit where a normal car would have the heater controls, radio and all that stuff.

Those switches probably don't light up but they will work with your board, however that orange switch looks like all the contacts have been wired together... Even if they haven't, there really should be heat shrink on them. Anyway, whatever, I'd recommend getting some better switches because those look a bit cheap if I'm honest. Nice ones are bloody expensive though, which is a shame but it's just how it is I guess!

If you want to know more about the electronics side of things then feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to explain stuff, but it can get complicated quite quickly I'm afraid... Not necessarily because it is complicated, I just tend to overcomplicate things.

Some good places to find different switches:
RS Components (officially the most difficult-to-navigate website on the internet)
Technobots (mostly deals with robotics but they have some good, cheap buttons and switches)
Gremlin Solutions (arcade components site so they mostly stock bright, obnoxious switches but you might find something you like)
Leo Bodnar (mostly sells fancy stuff but he also stocks a couple of kinds of pushbutton, very expensive but very authentic).

Mars Attacks · Jul 31, 2012

About the monitor: you could position it in many ways! How about this:

DJRichard · Jul 31, 2012

@Mars Attacks. Thats pretty much what I was trying to describe. Its not easy sometimes trying to put things into words for others to understand! You can see the original wheel deck is at an angle and you have put the monitor stand flat. I might put the monitor stand at the same angle as the wheel deck, so it would be tilting the monitor forward. Its not such a steep angle that it would tip, and I could easily tilt the monitor up if needed. There is something just a bit unrefined about the way the two pieces join.

Another possible way would be to do it exactly as you have here, except I could make the wheel deck extend all the way to be flush with the front of the wheel deck (where the wheel attaches to) and then cut around the wheel so it sits nice and flush. Then I could put side panes on it creating a wedge shaped box. This would enable me to drill holes in the front for my switches! Oh Im quite liking this idea actually.

As this would seal in the G27, would it be likely that there would be overheating issues? It looks like there are air vents at the front of the G27.

@neema_t Thanks for that post. I had a closer look and all the big plasticky looking switches he provided (blue, 2x green, orange and red) have been wired up together. The middle contact has a bulb symbol which must indicate its to light it up. So would it be correct to assume that he was wired it like that to enable the light to go on when its in the ON position? I just viewed the desktopaviator.com website mentioned on the pcb of the pulse generator and it clearly mentions that when you move a switch, it basically has the effect of pushing a button for 1/4 of a second. So I cant see how this would keep the light on, if anything it would seem to only pulse on when you moved the switch.

Im going to have to do some more research. I dont really want to spend too much money on this at all. The good thing with using wood, is that its likel;y that I will want to improve on this over time and when my budget allows. So I can always change it later.

Mars Attacks · Jul 31, 2012

The best way to find what suits you best, is first to check it on SketchUp. I could provide you my 3Dmodels (wheels, pedals, dummies, seats...) but first you have to learn how to operate this program (there are many free tutorials).

sesselpupser · Jul 31, 2012

DJRichard
@neema_t Thanks for that post. I had a closer look and all the big plasticky looking switches he provided (blue, 2x green, orange and red) have been wired up together. The middle contact has a bulb symbol which must indicate its to light it up. So would it be correct to assume that he was wired it like that to enable the light to go on when its in the ON position? I just viewed the desktopaviator.com website mentioned on the pcb of the pulse generator and it clearly mentions that when you move a switch, it basically has the effect of pushing a button for 1/4 of a second. So I cant see how this would keep the light on, if anything it would seem to only pulse on when you moved the switch.

In that case, yeah, it's an SPST switch with illumination. I'm not sure how that would be wired up as it's unlikely the board would provide enough current to power the light, but it's impossible to say without having the board and switch to test. Do you know if the guy you bought it off knew what he was doing or was he guessing?

Also, assuming you get the switch illumination to work with a separate power source it won't matter what the board does as the light is a physical connection in the switch, as you say the board simulates the effect of pressing a keyboard key for 1/4 of a second but the switch itself stays electrically closed or open, and that's what decides whether the light is on or off.

Now, I can't say what kind of voltage the light in the switch needs or if it has internal resistors or needs an external one, you'd have to get a multimeter and test that out. May I ask what you mean when you say "all the big plasticky looking switches he provided ... have been wired up together"? Does that mean the pins on each switch are wired together as I thought they appeared to be in the photo or are the switches sharing a common earth wire or something?

DJRichard · Jul 31, 2012

I dont know the guy I bought them from, it was from a second-hand website. Ive emailed him today and asked a few questions about it. Im waiting for him to reply.

Apparently there is a 5v ground point on the pcb, so it says I can "steal" the power from the USB cable. On the back of the switches Ive noticed he has them wired up differently. He is bridging the centre conector with the ground connection on one switch, and the center connector with the Power connector on the other switch. Ive taken a photo to show you what I mean.

I found some instructions on the companies website that makes the board. They talk about using a 330ohm 1/4w resistor. None of this means anything to me, my knowledge of electronics is absolute zero, although Im not afraid to learn so long as its not too complicated. Here is a link to the instruction I found for this kit

http://desktopaviator3.tripod.com/Instructions/Model_2120/index.htm

You can probably see that the wood Ive been using is much thicker than that used in Waysides design. This meant that I had to cut-out a couple of notches to allow the gear selector to fit in. I knew this all along, but I was nervous about cutting too much and having to redo that entire section, so I practiced a cut on a scrap piece of wood first. It was worth while as I managed to get it cut pretty much perfectly. In the next photo you can see the cuts I made. I also have a piece of unpainted wood which I will attach for the gear selector to clamp onto. I wanted a wider piece as it means I can use the plastic threaded support underneath to make it even more secure. In this photo its not screwed in place, its just sitting there on its own.

This is also the colour that Ive painted the rig. This is only the first coat so it should improve. I did notice that when I applied pressure to the paint with the jigsaw, it has darkened it a bit. You can see the darkened black paint in the picture next to the groove I just cut out. Im wondering if the paint is going to be too weak and will become marked very easily. I think its blackboard paint, its certainly matt anyway. Is there any kind of protective coat I can apply afterwards which will make it more resistant to accidental damage, whilst retaining the matt look?

You will notice Ive not painted the foot deck, there wasnt any point in doing that as my paint supply is limited and Im going to carpet that bit anyway. It took me a couple of hours to do that first coat, I only have a paint brush that is very small, the type you use for painting pictures, not for painting houses!

sesselpupser · Jul 31, 2012

DJRichard
I dont know the guy I bought them from, it was from a second-hand website. Ive emailed him today and asked a few questions about it. Im waiting for him to reply.

Apparently there is a 5v ground point on the pcb, so it says I can "steal" the power from the USB cable. On the back of the switches Ive noticed he has them wired up differently. He is bridging the centre conector with the ground connection on one switch, and the center connector with the Power connector on the other switch. Ive taken a photo to show you what I mean.

(pic)

I found some instructions on the companies website that makes the board. They talk about using a 330ohm 1/4w resistor. None of this means anything to me, my knowledge of electronics is absolute zero, although Im not afraid to learn so long as its not too complicated. Here is a link to the instruction I found for this kit

http://desktopaviator3.tripod.com/Instructions/Model_2120/index.htm

That's... Interesting. I wouldn't have thought both switches will work if they're wired differently like that because LEDs only conduct electricity one way. However I don't even think either switch will work wired like that as there doesn't appear to be any 330 ohm resistors involved. Well, they might turn on once, but after that the board might blow because of being asked to supply more current than it can or the LEDs will blow because the board supplies more current than they can handle. Out of curiosity, what's on the other end of the blue wire that's soldered to the 2120?

If I were you I would rewire all of the switches so they're like this (image taken from the page you linked):

Except in your case the LED is built in to your switches so all you really need to do is solder a 330 ohm resistor to the middle pin of the switch and solder the other leg of that resistor to the 5V point on the board. That way you know that the board isn't being asked to provide more current than it should and everything will work properly when you plug it in and start flipping switches.

If you want to know where to get wire, 330 ohm (by the way, '330 ohm' is more often written as '330R') resistors and 2-pin female headers (fancy word for connectors):

Wire
Resistors
Headers.

Hope that helps!

DJRichard · Aug 1, 2012

Thanks, that really does help a lot. One thing though, I have 5 illuminated switches in total. Would that mean I would have to connect 5x 330R resistors to the blue wire? The guy who sold me these, had a photo of about 10 silver toggle switches, I have about 4 of them from him, and he had little green LEDs that were lit up when switched on. If I was to buy the same green LEDs, would that 5V point on the PCB be enough for potentially 20 LEDs? I say 20 because thats how many switches that PCB is capable of handling.

You can see how little I know now! hahaha

DJRichard · Aug 1, 2012

I have another really important question. Ive been in contact with someone selling BMW E36 Mtec seats. If Im totally honest, they are not as good as I was hoping for, however as I dont want to spend around 400+euros for the seats that Ive liked the look of so far (Audi S3, M3 Vader, Porsche 911) then I just have to get something.

The problem though, is that all of the adjustments, up/down, back/forward and tilt are electronic. Is there an easy way to wire that up to a 240V (Thats what it is in this part of Europe) mains power supply? What is it likely to cost?

Tyl3nc · Aug 1, 2012

Awesome build, Lately I have taken a huge interest in building one of these.. I have been looking around to gather some thoughts from a few different sims + chilicoke mods.. once again, awesome sim!

sesselpupser · Aug 1, 2012

DJRichard
Thanks, that really does help a lot. One thing though, I have 5 illuminated switches in total. Would that mean I would have to connect 5x 330R resistors to the blue wire? The guy who sold me these, had a photo of about 10 silver toggle switches, I have about 4 of them from him, and he had little green LEDs that were lit up when switched on. If I was to buy the same green LEDs, would that 5V point on the PCB be enough for potentially 20 LEDs? I say 20 because thats how many switches that PCB is capable of handling.

You can see how little I know now! hahaha

You do have to connect 5 resistors to the wire, but it would be easier to get a small piece of stripboard, solder the wire to that then solder the resistors to the board, otherwise it'll be a bit extreme trying to solder 20 resistors to one wire! You have to wire them in parallel though, so that the current is divided but the voltage stays the same across each resistor. I can do a quick drawing to explain it better later on if you like but I think I'd rather draw it in blood than use Paint which is all I have handy right now.

This is how you'd calculate whether or not you can run 20 LEDs off the same USB power supply:

USB provides 5V at up to 500mA, so you can't exceed that limit without possibly damaging a USB port on your computer. A 330R resistor with 5V across it will restrict the current to 15mA (Ohm's law states that V (voltage) = I (current) x R (resistance), so if you transpose that it becomes I = V / R. I = 5 / 330, I = 0.015A, I = 15mA). 20 LEDs means 20 330R resistors in parallel with the 5V supply, so the total draw should be in the region of 300mA. In reality it might be a little less because of the resistance added by the LEDs, but they have very low resistance and the resistance also changes as they warm up, so it's not reliable. Anyway, as long as the board itself draws less than 150mA (to be safe), you'll be fine as the total draw would be about 450mA... The only problem there is you can't easily measure how much current the board is using! I'm pretty sure it'll be less than 150mA, though. If you want to be safe you could use a higher value resistor, a 510R would drop the current in each LED to 10mA which should still be quite bright, I routinely use 560R resistors and they're still painfully bright to look at!

As for your seat, it's hard to say without knowing how much current the motors need but it is possible, you need a 12V DC adaptor with a high enough current or power rating. A PC power supply may even do the job, but I'm really not sure about that. Try and find out what the seat's fuse value is, then when you know that you can work out how much power you need. Power is calculated with the following equation: P = V x I. So if you know the E36 uses a 12V battery (which I do because I just googled it), all you need to know is the current limit for the seat, multiply it by 12 and that gives you the wattage you need to supply. So let's say it needs a 40A fuse, that would suggest that the seat needs close to, but not exactly or more than, 40A and that means you need 480W at 12V to be able to supply that much current.

As for the AC > DC adaptor you need, maybe a PC PSU will do it but I really have no idea. You can't just buy a 500W PSU and hook it up, though, you have to find one that has enough power specifically on the 12V rail; This PSU is an 850W model and can supply 840W on the 12V rail, apparently. I really have no idea when it comes to high current loads though, I'm an electronic engineer(ing student) so even 1A is a huge amount of current to me. I'm sure there are people out there with powered seats who may be able to help but I don't know where you'd find them.

DJRichard · Aug 1, 2012

neema_t your post has been very helpful indeed. I continued researching and discovered its a 30A fuse on the seats. So if I understand what youve told me, that means I need to have 360W on the 12V rail. With efficiency around 75% (I read that is the rating for average models) then Im looking for a PSU of about 500W.

The guy with the power seats has not got back to me yet, so perhaps I may be able to get a manually operated seat and avoid this extra hassle and extra expense.

I have a small update for tonight. I found a tool in the garage and didnt know what it was, so I went online with the model number and discovered its a router. I went on YouTube and learned how to use it for basic functions.

I used it to cut up a board of 18mm MDF tonight. Ive made a deck for the monitor to sit on. This deck will extend above the wheel deck, which is the painted black angled piece the wheel will be attached to. I will cut out the shape of the wheel so that it all sits nice and flush. Ive also made a very thin dashboard which will be used to box in the top monitor deck to the wheel deck. If I drill some holes in it, I can mount my switches along it, kind of like a dashboard in a car.

I was outside cutting the MDF as I didnt have a face mask. Im not going to cut MDF ever again without a mask, so I will buy one tomorrow. Its horrendous stuff and Im aware its not a good idea to inhale it. Thankfully I have my car back now, so I can get out and about to buy the extra screws and bolts and the seat. I was stuck in limbo the last couple of days just reading up online about different ideas that Ive thought of.

Here are a couple of photos from tonight.

This Hitachi M8 router looks like its seen better days, in fact I could see the odd blue spark through the vents as I was cutting....

Here is the monitor deck cut to size and with a couple of wedges for the sides. You can see the long dashboard MDF strip I cut laying on top of this monitor deck.

Mars Attacks · Aug 2, 2012

Nice idea about the monitor stand, I think it will look perfect! (It forms the letter "Z", so you' ll have to call it the Z cockpit

)

For someone who deals first time with the DIY thing, I would say that you have a very (considerable) heavy :crazy:

armament and that you are doing very well!👍

DJRichard · Aug 2, 2012

Thanks Mars Attacks!

After work today, I went to a scrap yard and there were a load of cars. To be honest there were very few luxury or sports cars, most were just general run of the mill nonsense with terrible seats. There were a few BMWs, but as you would expect, any that was decent had already been snapped up by others before me. There were a few seats I could have taken, as I was getting pretty desperate but just to make matters worse, the cars that had OK seats had been left with the windos open and the seats had decayed badly with the weather. Perhaps they could have been brought back up to scratch with a hell of a lot of care, but thats not what I wanted to have to do.

Then I got one. Not amazing and it had a bit of mildew on it which I will have to scrub the life out of to remove. Im not having anything that smells in my house! Its a grey and cream/white half leather seat from a SAAB 9-3. Its fully manual so it saves me having to buy a computer PSU to power it. I managed to get him down to 50euros for the seat. I couldnt get it tonight though, as it was 5:45pm and he closed at 6. The car was in amingst a load of cars and the passenger door wouldnt even open, the locking mechanism had been removed. So he is going to remove the car and take it into his garage with a fork lift tomorrow and remove the seats for me and I can collect it on the way back home.

Its not quite as sporty as I was hoping for, but I managed to convince myself that I didnt really NEED to have full on sports seats as lets be honest, Im not exactly going to be getting thrown around like I would in a real car! Having said all that, Id still have wanted the sportiest seats with the most extreme lumbar supports out there. I had read great reviews about the seats in the 9-3 a few months ago. I had been reading up on SAAB as a potential second hand purchase as I predicted the prices would tumble with the closure of the factory in Sweden.

So after tomorrow I will be able to get some more work done, and best of all its a bank holiday this Monday....extra days work!

Mars Attacks · Aug 3, 2012

I'm sure the SAAB seat that you bought is much more comfortable than any sports seat! Actually, driving in sim racing, you don't need the side support that offers the racing seat.
Use a vapor steam cleaner (maybe you can borrow from a friend) to disinfect and clean and it will be perfect for your need!
I'm looking forward to sea your seat.

DJRichard · Aug 3, 2012

You might not be looking forward so much when you see the state its in! The only good thing is that the leather isnt damaged. I really have to find a good way to clean it, the mildew is quite bad as you can see from the photos. I sat it on the rig, jst to see what it looked like and I put a jacket over it and sat in it. It feels fantastic, so that has cheered me right up!

I wonder if I go to a car valeters and see how much they would charge for cleaning it. If its like 20euros ro something, then that might be a good investment. Id probably end up spending half that buying products and then spend hours scrubbing....

This was taken at the scrap yard. This is one of the two mechanics it took to remove the seat.

This is sitting on my rig at home. You can see just how disgusting the seat is. Im dubious that it will be completely clean even after trying my best!

Hopefully the next time you see this seat it will be much cleaner and will be attached to my rig.

sesselpupser · Aug 3, 2012

You could just clean it until it doesn't smell any more then get a seat cover or something. I once had a car that I got for free, the previous owner had left it parked up with a window open (because the handle snapped off), I spent two weeks cleaning it, took it to get MOT'd and was told the floor was rusted through and it was a miracle I didn't die driving it to the test centre... Needless to say I didn't bring it home, I pushed it over the road and had it scrapped! Good news is I got £20 for it so I actually made money. Not a lot, mind you, but still.

Edit: Also it's not the least sporty seat I've ever seen, I had been considering 'borrowing' one of the seats out of my Dad's Kia Sedona until I sorted a proper seat out but I would've been better off using an armchair. Your seat is a similar shape to my MX-5 seat, actually.

DJRichard · Aug 3, 2012

Well after looking at the price of buying or renting a wet vacuum, I decided to ring around some car valeting places. I took the seat to one of them and had it cleaned for 20euros. Its still a bit damp at the moment, as you can see from the photos. Its outside in my garden drying, fortunately its sunny and windy, so it should be good to go in no time at all.

There is a massive improvement and it was 20EUR well spent. It took about 90 minutes for them to do it actually, in that time I went around a few carpet shops trying to find a bit of plush grey carpet to go on my rig. Colour matching of course. I couldnt find any that were plush enough, the ones I did see that were of a similar colour were quite rough and cheapo. I went to 3 different carpet shops, but I will hold out until I get the one I want.

There was a lovely plush black one, but as my frame is black, you wouldnt really be able to see it very well, especially in the photos.

I took the registration number of the car from the tax disc. Its a 2004 (54) SAAB 9-3 DTH Vector.

Here is my seat, all clean and drying in the sunshine

Here is a side-by-side comparison before & after.

My first build ever. A copy of Wayside's design.

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